A live bomb was found and defused Sunday in a temple here, four days after serial blasts left about 100 people were injured in this Tripura capital, the police said. Police officials said the powerful bomb, prepared with ammonium nitrate and other explosive materials and connected to a cell-phone, were found placed in a small tin in a Manipuri temple at Radhanagar area in the capital city. The bomb was found on Mahasasthi, the first day of the five-day Durga Puja festival, as this northeastern state recovered from the serial bombings Wednesday that wounded about 100 people, eight of them critically.
“Experts from National Security Guards (NSG) along with Tripura police bomb disposal squad defused the bomb,” said Nepal Das, Tripura police spokesman.
Senior police officials including Director General of Police Pranay Sahay were present when the bomb was defused.
On Wednesday, four synchronised powerful bombs went off in two big markets, one bus stand and a locality in Agartala, bordering Bangladesh.
While authorities were yet to get any clue in the Wednesday’s serial blasts, the police arrested six people, including three Bangladeshi nationals, on suspicion that they were invoved.
Das said: “The state government has raised the amount of the reward from Rs.100,000 to Rs.500,000 to anyone providing vital information about the bombings.”
Officials from the Intelligence Bureau (IB), NSG, and Central Forensic Laboratory, Kolkata, with the Tripura police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) personnel have continued their probe to ascertain the terror groups behind the Agartala blasts.
“The BSF (Border Security Force) has been put on alert and is keeping a close watch on the Tripura’s border with Bangladesh,” Das said.
Tripura shares an 856-km long international border with Bangladesh.
The Tripura government said it has shifted four injured people, critically wounded in the serial blasts, to Kolkata and Guwahati while bringing two specialist doctors from outside the state for providing advanced treatment to the victims.